you have a lot of business. >> we will be staying open to the holidays. our clients have pushed us to get these closed for the. stuart: you have been talking up your own book. >> we will do what our clients want. stuart: demanding higher tax rates on the rich. >> i believe they are not necessary. i believe it will change. stuart: it was fun. they can and connell, it is yours. connell: thank you, stuart. dagen: new life for a tax increase on billionaires. connell: how would such a deal play with the democrats. dagen: apples weekend in china. new iphone sales top 2 million units.

connell: $3.24 a gallon. these are the best prices we have seen all year for gasoline. a very, difficult day and weekend for many around the country. dagen: it will be a difficult week, month and many years to come as we try to deal with these shootings in newtown, connecticut. we will bring you up-to-date about any news as we get it. you'll hear about it in the fox news minute coming up in just a short while. connell: the business news of the day. we will begin with nicole petallides at the new york stock exchange. good morning. nicole: we did have a moment of silence for those in morning. our nation is in morning. let's take a look at the names on the move this morning. you can see some accelerated

selling. 13% to the downside. it has been virtually flat. clearwater for $2.99. it is even below that particular level. we knew that sprint are ready to part of it. here is some economic news. not that great. it was down again. five months in a row. in japan, they had a big election. a lot of people have been hot on that. there is a look at the dow. drug and bank stocks doing well. back to you guys. connell: we will talk to you about the latest developments in the debt to go stations. john boehner with a new offer on the table for the president. essentially, a billionaires tax.

the speaker laying down a trillion dollars in new tax revenue with that offer. only in return with spending cuts from the president. time to make a deal, do you figure? >> yes. i actually think the horrible tragedy in connecticut will contribute to making a deal. one thing that gets politicians out of politics is that human beings are what they are supposed to be about. i do believe that speaker boehner and president obama will be looking much more at the big picture in america. connell: i kind of debated in my own head whether to bring that up in the interview. it is funny that you brought it up right away. a lot of us have been so consumed by this or affected by

this terrible tragedy in connecticut. we were already tired of these physical -- fiscal cliff talks. >> what we are tired of is anger. whether it is violence which hollywood should be shameful about, as well as, violence that allows people to purchase firearms. the whole thing is bubbling up. connell: what i meant was, they were not necessarily solving these long-term debt problems. my point was, why not just get it out of the way and move forward. we will see what congressman ringel thinks in a few minutes. not everything will be solved anyway, so let's move on.

>> the sense that we are tired of the instability and the food fights. getting this fiscal cliff solution for the american people and forgetting about people shouting at each other as part of the culture that i think this moment of tragedy in connecticut may get us focused on. connell: there is a trillion dollars in revenue, you just say okay. let's cut our losses. are you willing to give in? >> i have been in favor of simpson bowles as a grandparent that it is immoral for us to allow our generations of kids to come to pay for our credit card receipts.

i am pretty strong about why didn't barack obama and both mitt romney cut spending, reform entitlements and increased tax rates. simpson bowles still remains the best way for this grand organ to take place. connell: thank you very much. >> thank you for having me. dagen: democratic congressman charles rangel is sitting next to us to weigh in on this. tax hikes on billionaires. house speaker boehner is moving in the right direction. >> no questions in the right direction. there is a big gap between 250,000 then a million dollars. it is in the right direction. the speaker is not digging his heels. i was just wondering when they would stop and say, look, we lost the election. this is a major step towards that end.

connell: does the president also compromise. i am getting higher taxes, i am raising revenue, let's make a deal. >> they said they refused to even take about increasing the rates. that is the big issue. we can talk about everything. we can put everything on the table. the problem you will have is it is easy for the two principles to say they have broken the steel wool back of the ballpark. now is the time for them to come together with offers that he can bring back to his republicans in the house and democrats can bring in the congress. dagen: a trillion dollars in

revenue is the latest proposal. the president last offer was 1.4 trillion. can they meet at 1.2 trillion? >> the whole campaign was about do not touch the billionaires. do not increase the rates. dagen: will you sign off on, at least, tweaking the entitlement program in order to save money? that is part of the speaker's plan? >> everyone wants programs tweaked as long is it is not their program. we have a long way to go. medicare, as long as the patient themselves are not going to be adversely affected. remember, there was not that much disagreement in terms of

providers. we had done this in obamacare and we were willing to come back and take another look. savings is not the issue. we have to save money. there are plenty of areas for us to go to. dagen: they want to raise the age of qualification by two years. this program will not be able to pay 100% of benefits in 2024. that is right around the corner. [talking over each other] >> it is not a problem in preparing these things..3 it is easy to say extend the age. dagen: keep the health insurance that you have.

>> if you can keep it. that is the reason why we have increase in healthcare. it all had work out. everyone reads from the same pages. people do not talk about it because it is not tomorrow. connell: some of these cuts will happen next year. >> sometimes during the campaign you do not know how to get out of it. let's put that aside and let start talking. the details can always be work out. this is a very good sign. give them the confidence to do

something about these of salt rifles. to congress, they will have to be pushed to do something. just call your elected if representatives. this time, do something. dagen: pray for the victims and their families. >> that is always necessary. connell: thank you. it is great to see you. the more washington delays, the more we could all be paying. the irs at risk. if that happens, it could send us into recession. dagen: at the lowest gas prices we have seen in years. it has not been this good for

drivers for, well, about a year. still up almost $88 a barrel. ♪

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dagen: a quarter past the hour. stocks now and every 15 minutes. aig. nicole: the second largest block sale ever. about 100 years ago. aig stock right now is up about 2%. everyone remembers the large bailout back in 2008. here is a look at aig. doing well. let's continue to take a look at the major market averages. the nasdaq composite, not quite at the 3000 mark. today we have been watching apple very carefully. there is a look at the s&p 500. three quarters of of 1%. dagen: have to make a little bit of money with our good friend charles payne. the story of a company that once wild the world.

really works back. charles: it was an incredibly hot stock. have therapeutic. in the 90s, his stock was absolutely unstoppable. to me it is a case study that they've sort of put it in neutral. by november 2005, it was the listed. they are at fiscal year 12. revenue is up. markets are increasing. strong cash flow. this is a company that has gone through the ringers. they know they dropped the ball. connell: that is a pretty good job out of them.

i was trying to think what would be a good example. [talking over each other] dagen: is today as good as it will get if you are a driver. why heading to the gas pump right now a be a good idea. connell: technology becoming more and more advanced. how can regulation keep up. michael powell is here with us. first, let's take a look at the world currencies and how they are faring today against the dollar. ♪

>> at 21 minutes past the hour, i have your fox news minute. six year old jack pinto and noah pozner will be laid to rest today. know what was an incredibly bright kid who liked to figure

out things that worked mechanically. jack was a huge giants fan who looked up to victor cruz. president obama making sure that a tragedy like this does not happen again. classes set to resume tomorrow and other schools and newtown. no word on when that will happen. back to dagen. dagen: christmas coming a little bit early this year. gas prices falling to the lowest level of the year today. $3.25 a gallon is the averagee it is still a big relief after seeing higher gas prices.

the drop comes just in time for what is said to be the busiest travel for the holiday season. boeing back in iraq. the jetliner landed in baghdad. the delivery is part of a 40 plus jet industry. despite cold weather and a lackluster launch date, apple says it has sold over 2 million iphone tries. just to compare, apple sold 2.1 apple iphones. here in the states, apple products are getting cheaper.

shares of apple today are trading a little bit lower. a city analyst removed his buy rating. connell: we never hear of any price cuts for apple. dagen: at walmart, would you be surprised. everyday low prices. connell: keeping up with technology. it is not so easy for regulators. there are concerns that hackers may have an eye on your living room. delays with dealing with the debt crisis in d.c. could also do like your tax refund. will it posssbly send this country into a recession? in the meantime, here are some winners, s&p 500. ♪

connell: we are back with the latest event with communication and technology. it is getting harder and harder for the government to protect your privacy. the more washington delays, the greater the chance you will not get your tax refund in time. that could mean recession forever one. that is a story we will look at. instead of google, jolly old saint nick will be using microsoft bing.

we will explain that as well. dagen: there is an app for that, as well. [talking over each other] dagen: we will be all over it coming up. right now, it is almost the bottom of the hour. stocks now and every 15 minutes. since we will not be tracking santas presence on google -- today we are seeing off arrows. of nearly 2% today. the fact that you have ever quarter today raising their price targets. that shows a vote of confidence as well. google is a clear winner today. as far as the major market averages, off arrows across the board.

transports doing well. thanks and drugs doing well. we see a lot of green on the screen today. the moves are somewhat muted. sometimes we see big, big moves. it is up about one dollar. back to you. dagen: thank you so much. connell: let's say here with technology. samsung's new smart tv may put you at risk of hackers. they could potentially sit there and watch you inside of your home. how can regulators keep up and protect everybody. let's ask michael powell. michael, ultimately, as technology becomes, is it the

government's responsibility to protect us? >> i think the responsibility is mutual. to start with, consumers will have to become a lot more sophisticated about their security and their privacy the average family has six devices currently running on the web at any given time. if it was a thermostat, they could take control of your heating and cooling. consumers have to get much more aware about the vulnerabilities. connell: they have to care first. older people seem much more concerned than younger people about privacy. >> privacy is an interesting thing. we are all willing to trade it

for a certain amount of value. i think something that concerns me is we have a generation of children who have grown up digital and grown up with these tools. yes, they have personal things that go on in their lives. they do not have a family, they do not have a mortgage. they do not have a bank account that could be robbed. dagen: individual knows that they are giving away some of their privacy if they post half naked pictures of themselves on the internet or facebook. i do not think any individual truly knows how their information is being used or how companies are tracking. i have no concept of how the sites that i use on a regular basis are using my personal

information. >> number one, very good corporate practices. you have to be very transparent and open with consumers about what you will do with their data. i think there is this near religious belief and information should be free, freely available on a massive scale. clearly, you see through the headlines, you know, that is becoming more controversial. you are hearing about databases that are ballooning to give you highly specific information about people. connell: speaker boehner and president obama are meeting at this hour. that is what we are told. continuing their discussions. meeting happening right now at the white house.

we will obviously bring the details to you. when you talk to companies about this, and you used an interesting word moments ago, default. whatever your ring on your cell phone is-- whatever companies set up as defaults are what many will keep. you talk to companies about having privacy as the default rather than as something you need to adjust to. sarah we talk about it as opt in or opt out. we are a free society. few people appreciate what the long-term consequences of that

are. the data never ever goes away. defaults are imported, presumptions are important intro real transparency is important. dagen: we talked about verizon and infrared technology to eventually observe the television viewer. and just to collect information about whether there is clapping or the mood in a room to target advertising. how far is too far? >> that is a hard question to answer. it is a societal conversation about the balance. some people hate giving away private information, but some people love a personal shopper. consumers totally adore the

recommendation of particularized information. all of that is a revelation of your private information. i think we are in a dialogue of balances. one of the things i think is constructed is you tend to get a backlash. connell: a lot of people are interested in this, for obvious reasons. michael powell, thank you. we have some breaking news. talking about the fact that there is a meeting under way at the white house. we talked earlier about a framework of a deal possibly being put in place. rich edson is in d.c. rich: there is some movement on this finally. speaker boehner is at the white house right now meeting with

president obama. the last framework that they have on the table -- a trillion dollars in spending cuts. democrats still want an increase in the debt ceiling. republicans feel if they are going to do a trojan dollars in revenue increases, they figure if you get a debt ceiling increase on that, they will want another trillion dollars or more in cuts. right now, house speaker john boehner and president obama working on this framework. there are bits of optimism in washington. this is still something that has to be sold to house republicans. house republicans in the senate. the thought that something like

that could easily get through congress, we have a long way to go. they are meeting at the white house right now. connell: there is the working framework on the screen. we are getting there. i think rich put it best. we have a ways to go. dagen: 1.4 trillion, 1 trillion from boehner, 1.4 for president. let's bring it to gather. if you are looking to track santa this year, you will have to search somewhere else. connell: one major city overhauling and going all in on electric. we will have that story. first, take a look at treasuries and the yield today. ♪ [ male announcer ] this is amy. amy likes to invest in the market.

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can i still ship a gift in time r christmas? ah, sure you can. great. where's your gift? uh... whew. [ male announcer ] break from the holiday stress. ship fedex express by december 22nd for christmas delivery. >> i have your fox business brief. stocks hitting a boost that progress is being made in the fiscal cliff negotiations. business economists believe the country was the modest growth in 2013 with strength coming from a further rebound in housing. it is looking for the economy to grow 2.1% next year. economists also believe unemployment will average 7.7% for all of next year. the online marketplace will be adding falling skies and the closure to it instead video.

that is the latest from the fox business network. giving you the power to prosper. ♪

dagen: the white house confirming what rich edson has been reporting for you. the president and the speaker are meeting at the white house to continue their discussions about the fiscal cliff. they are coming to gather. bad bloodbetween twitter and instagram could have more of a back story than originally thought. twitter originally had an agreement to buy the site for over $500 million before

facebook sleep in with its billion-dollar offer. after several meetings with twitter, the executive told the company they intended to remain independent. only to reach a separate deal with facebook some weeks later. instagram never received any formal offers or terms sheets from any other country. connell: it looks like old saint nick is giving google the boot. this is big today. not good, so bonnie. shibani: we are having a little fun with tech today. as far as who has been naughty or nice, santa already weighing

in this christmas season that he has decided to side with microsoft. after five years together, both google and the organization that tracks santa on christmas eve are ditching each other. instead they are having microsoft have that relationship. they have been tracking santa, actually, since 1955 allowing kids to call and find santa's location. today it is taking a little bit more of a savvy turn. as far as mapping goes, norad has decided to go with microsoft lending its various products to help track santa.

i think we can all be grateful that apple maps is not the one. dagen: in all seriousness, i was using apple maps over the weekend to look at a map of connecticut. it was just a horrible, horrible map. connell: let's go back to the cool now. stocks now and every 15 minutes. nicole: the dow jones industrials are moving to the highs of the day. that is a gain of nearly three quarters of a percent. they are each up a full percentage point. there are 30 names on the dow, 27 of them are in the green. you talk about boehner and obama

meeting. as we get closer and closer, there may be a meeting of the minds. that really is something that has been front and center here on wall street. we are up about 90 points. i want to take a look at ubs. everyone remembers the whole libor scandal. they are expected to be hit with a fine. obviously, as a result, we are seeing the stock down. two tenths of 1%. back to you. dagen: thank you. connell: the city of indianapolis taking its fleet of vehicles green. dagen: first, some of today's winners on the nasdaq. ♪

dagen: going green, that is what indianapolis is aimed to do. no gasoline. we have the mayor of that city joining us now. why do this now? >> this has always been about national security to me. it is about keeping our troops home more. it is about as stopping spending

so much money. about losing leverage and diplomacy. that is really why we are doing this. dagen: according to the international age, we, the u.s., will be the world's biggest oil producer and we should be, virtually, self sufficient when it comes to energy independence. why not just stick with good old gasoline. you can do that but there is demand for oil. there will still be a lot of money heading towards those countries that would do us harm. a lot of those countries want to do us harm. when you look at the world wide oil demand, that is really something we have to look at.

lots of money would go overseas to people that would do us harm. dagen: what is the break even. >> we will replace them as needed. we will certainly work with auto companies to try to get the best deal possible. we expect to save money along the way. we will replace them as necessary. certainly the sedans and light trucks, we will do that as quickly as possible. dagen: is the technology there? will you do all electric on, say your cars, or are you going to do hybrid? >> actually, i am a very

pragmatic guy. i would not have done this if i thought we were not there technology wise. we expect to do a lot of plug-ins in the near future. i would urge the average citizen to look at these this would be the time to transition. we are there now. that is why we made this move. i have been studying this issue for a long time now. at the same time, i could not move forward unless i thought it was going to save us money. i am suggesting right now that the technology is there. dagen: electric makes the city a lot more quiet. trust me. mr. mayor, thank you so much for being here. >> thank you.

connell: let's go back to the markets now and talk a little bit about the hedge funds. dagen: the trade from sandra in chicago. sandra: we actually have seen commodities up across the board today. this is despite the fact that more hedge funds and large institutional investors are pulling themselves out of that trade. they are betting that prices will actually go down in the next year. i think there are a couple of reasons. hedge funds really want to put the money at risk. there is no reason to put money at risk with the u.s. fiscal cliff pending in with the holidays approaching. a lot of the big banks are coming out and despite hedge

funds, they are coming out with very bullish markets. >> i think actually 2013 will be critical because we will have china manufacturing. we will have to see if that will slow down. sandra: so much at play here. we will keep talking to traders all day. we will have more for you throughout market now. connell: sandra smith in chicago. thank you very much. dagen: president obama and house speaker boehner are meeting right now at the white house. we will continue to be all over it. connell: cheryl casone and dennis neil are coming up. markets now continues. ♪

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upside down. >> hi. >> hi. you know, i can save you 15% todaif you open up a charge card account with us. >> you just read my mind. >> announcer: just one little piece of information and they can open bogus accounts, stealing your credit, your money and ruining your reputation. that's why you need lifelock to relentlessly protect what matters most... [beeping...] helping stop crooks before your identity is attacked. and now you can have the most compreheive identity theft protection available today... lifelock ultimate. so for protection you just can't get anywhere else, get lifelock ultimate. >> i didn't know how serious identity theft was until i lost my credit and eventually i lost my home. >> announcer: credit monitoring is not enough, because it tes you after the fact, sometimes as much as 30 days later. with lifelock, as soon as our network spots a threat to your identity, you'll get a proactive risk alert, protecting you before you become a victim. >> identity theft was a huge, huge problem for me and it's

gone away because of lifeloc >> announcer: while no one can stop all identity theft, if criminals do steal your information, lifelock will help fix it, with our don't it until you becometee. the next victim. you have so much to protect and nothing to lose when you call lifelock now to get two full months of identity theft protection risk free. that's right, 60 days risk-free. use promo code: gethelp. if you're not comptely satisfied, notify lifelock and you won't pay a nt. order now and also get this shredder to keep your documents out of the wrong hands-- a $29 dollar value, free. get protected now. call the number on your screen or go to lifelock.com to try lifelock protection risk free for a full 60 days. use promo code: gethelp. plus get this document shredder free-- but only if you act right now. call the number on your screen now!

cheryl: hello, everyone. i am cheryl casone. noon eastern time on "markets now." dennis: and i am dennis kneale. stocks up. we will have washington insiders ahead on whether the president will meet john boehner halfway. cheryl: the clock is ticking down on retail sales for holiday on this free shipping day. many companies offering no fee for deliveries by christmas. the weeklong look at the winners and losers in our new series. dennis: how about this for holiday gift, gas prices at their lows for the year. live with how low can they go. top of the hour, stocks every 15 minutes and nicole petallides on the floor of the new york stock exchange. stocks up as the president and house speaker in a meeting. nicole: that meeting gave

optimism to the market. dow jones industrials up over 90 points. still up 77 points right now. a gain over half of a percent. the s&p 500 up almost 1% on a day it took a look at the dow jones industrials 25 of the 30 have up arrows. some of the best performers. take a look at how apple is fair in right now. the buying point is $4.94 that were to break down below the 500 mark. 513 right now. below .500 for the first time since february. back to you. cheryl: nicole, thank you very much. breaking news, president obama and house speaker john boehner completing at the white house another round of talks over the fiscal cliff. rich edson with the latest.

>> we got the heads up when the speaker was already there. that meeting just wrapping up within the last few minutes here. here is the framework they were discussing going into that meeting. a trillion dollars in spending cuts over the next decade, cutting dollars in revenue increases including the top tax rate of families earning more than a million dollars per year, the rest of the revenue would come from closing deductions and loopholes in the process next year. also the discussions include possible debt ceiling increase, employment iisurance, preventing the doctors who treat medicare patients from getting a dramatic pay cut an in the payroll tax ct extension sort of the other issues they are discussing. they are not in or out yet, but they're part of the conversation. part of the problem is to get kind of a framework like that through congress, especially the house. his issue, talking about a

trillion dollars in cuts, a trillion dollars in revenue. already you will get pushback from some of the more conservative republicans. if you include an increase in the debt ceiling, the boehner rule says for every dollar you increase the debt ceiling you have to get an additional dollar in cuts and the same amount of cuts you have her debt ceiling increase. if you're using those to go along wi increases, you will not just throw in the debt ceiling on top of that. that is something republicans have thrown back on to negotiate the details. if we find out anything on that meeting, we will update you. dennis: president obama and house speaker boehner likely discussing the newest concession. how about raising tax rates and earnings over $1 million in debt of 250 k.? the research group chief political strategist, thank you for being with us. even worse committed the ultimate settlement will not be in earnings over 1 million, you

think it will go down to half a million dollars for a tax rate increase. >> probably, dennis. now that boehner has made this enormous concession. we now have agreed on the premise, we're just arguing over the details. i think a million is too high. one thing that is still not clear difficult way back to 396 at the top rat right or 37, 37., but that is a big deal. john boehner saying he would consider getting a deal out of the way. dennis: the markets are liking this, but why is it the democratthatdemocrats didn't aca republican offer to cappadocians and bring in a lot more money? why are they insisting on actual rate increase although the other side hates the rate increase worse? >> the democrats are convinced they win the election white house because they want the top rate to go higher.

that is a concession that is mandatory for political cosmetic reasons. dennis: are you at all concerned john boehner has made this new concession, let's lift rates without still anything in the way of specific spending cuts, does that bother you? >> there has to be a change, more names i medicare recipients and there probably is going to be out in the distance higher eligibility age may be going up by two years. he has to sell it to his caucus. i would be a little surprised they announced a final deal in the next half an hour because he has to meet with his troops. a lot of them will have to swallow hard to raise rates. dennis: republicans seem to be getting all the blame if we go over the cliff. what you can do two or three most important things to avoid,

what do you have to fix ahead of time? >> you have to do the alternative minimum tax to keep the americans out. you have to do something about the payroll tax cut, dennis. going all the way back up to 6.2% taking a chunk out of gdp. my guess is they will go up gradually and they have to do the fix. a lot of angry doctors if you don't get that. all of this can be done by christmas eve, the framework can be put together. obviously they have to put details together during the winter. take the framework of the deal and get it done. dennis: should republicans agree to raise rates on those upper-income earnings without any specific spending cuts, should they go ahead and do it or wait until next year to get into specifics on spending cuts? >> that is unlikely. to be even more as part of a debt ceiling deal, that is a new

angle. if the debt ceiling is basically phoned into the steel there will be cuts in entitlement accompanying it. dennis: we will watch this space. thank you very much. cheryl: you saw it in the last 20 minutes, the markets reacting to the new stocks rising on the fact it had a meeting with john boehner. they spoke for about 45 minutes. hank smith is here now with his reaction as well. do you feel any better knowing that a deal could be somewhat closer? >> the big issue is if we can bridge the cliff, hitting framework and get an agreement, avoid going over the fiscal cliff, you're going to have certainty replace uncertainty in the form of capital spending on strike in the second half of 2012.

cheryl: many companies making big changes, a lot of companies, the dividend payers have them printed dividend of three shareholders before the end of the year. do you like it or do you not like it since they may have it on our hands soon. >> and the s&p 500 dividend paying company should be ahead of 2013 earnings today. i see no justification not to do that in order to take advantage the shareholders unique opportunity in a dividend taxes are going up. cheryl: we were just showing some video of john boehner returning to capitol hill. we will monitor that for the market and for our viewers as well. a couple of names you really like, whether or not we should be staying with dividend names, you really like mcdonald's.

one of the bigger names we follow. you say stick with this one no matter what happens with the cliff, right? >> you don't even have to worry about the economy with mcdonald's. it will do well with regard to a recession or if we keep on expanding. dividend yield nearly twice that of what it pays on the 10-year debt, 3.5% versus the 10-year at about 1.8%. so you are getting double the income and growth in income because mcdonald's will continue its 40 year trend of increasing dividends, it is a win-win. cheryl: mcdonald is not continued especially year-to-date, the stock is down 11% year to date which surprises many given the global footprint but they have had some issues with the stock. >> that is right, but part of that is mcdonald's did so well in 2011 and 2010 and it is just low enough fundamental to catch up a little bit. cheryl: it is a rail line, will

have to keep shipping things, obviously over the next year but this is your other top pick telling the viewers to go ahead and matter what. >> little bit more exposure. this stock has come down pretty significantly because of the fears of the united states getting out of the coal business. that is a big part of their rail transportation, they do a lot of other things as well, we think this is a good buying opportunity at a very attractive price and above-average yield. cheryl: thank you very much. >> good to be with you. dennis: out is getting personal. very fun to be held up by the fiscal cliff mess. how that could further slow our economm. cheryl: today is actually free

shipping day in a perfect time to begin a weeklong series on the winners and losers, christmas one week away. dennis: gas prices in a low for the year. we will be next cme. cheryl: we're up again heading back toward 90. keeping gas prices in check, if we can. we will be right back.

dennis: coming up on 15 past the hour. team coverage, sandra smith in the trading pits of the cme as gas prices at the pump hit record i lows on the year. john boehner meeting with the president. sandra: not bad. we're still here with the pharaohs, some optimism on wall street when you hear john boehner and obama are meeting once again for talking once again to bring us closer and closer. some sort of agreement on the fiscal cliff and that optimism and thought maybe they're actually coming together bringing optimism and that is what you see a pharaohs across the board, s&p 500 up nearly one full percentage point with names like bank of america, home depot

and wal-mart leading the dow. we talk about president obama and what we have seen out of washington, don't forget roughly 30 million americans will begin in january 2014 as the reform laws change. they got an upgrade. the price target from deutsche bank up about 66% in the last six months. back to you. dennis: thank you nicole. cheryl: over to sandra smith. sandra: we're watching oil and gasoline prices. $0.75 on the session around $88 per barrel and while oil prices are up today, they have dropped significantly the past couple of months. showing a lot of the bullish sentiment is being sucked out of the oil market have a big effect on gasoline prices. gasoline prices at the pump dropping to the lowest levels of the year. gasoline at $3.25 or gallon.

remember, a reason why we have seen a lot of flipping the oil and gasoline prices is because of negative sentiment around the fiscal cliff talks. by the way, one thing to point out, oil production at a 19 year high. enjoy the lower gasoline prices while they last. cheryl: we will, just won't drive for the next week. it is time to make money with charles payne. he has a health care sector stock he has talked about before is still flirting with today. charles: they got approval for the obesity drug, better than almost any other rival drugs out there. only doing mail order subscriptions initially. the bank cut a deal, orders are

going fabulous. everything i have read on the internet for the most part has been amazing. with the problems we have had in the past of the obesity drugs going bad, that lingers, but so far feels like things are going great. you can see it is up big already. no technical resistance between here and 2015. i haven't polled the trigger yet, but it is something people should take a look at. as long as you're working on obesity drugs and other things. cheryl: thank you very much. dennis: and the hobbit breaking weekend ox office records. a weeklong look at the retail winners and losers in our series stocking up for the holidays. cheryl: first, take a look at the world currencies. ♪

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>> 21 minutes past the hour, and lauren green with your fox news minute. funerals beginning in newtown, connecticut. they will be laid to rest this afternoon. family members describing a lots an incredibly bright kid who wanted to figure out how things work mechanically.

he was a huge new york giants fan. looking up to victor cruz. president obama speaking at a memorial service in newtown last night. taking action so tragic like this does not happen again. the president saying more has to be done to protect our children. several lawmakers including joe lieberman joining president obama slate calling for a ban on assault weapons. classes begin tomorrow in newtown's other schools. making plans to send surviving students to a former school building in neighboring town, but no word on when that will happen. those are your headlines, now back to cheryl. cheryl: thank you very much. monday, today is free shipping day. thousands of retailers have actually jumped on this trend trying to boost the last-minute sales with christmas one week away. we are launching during this

hour of "markets now" a new segment, we are calling it "stocking up." the winners and losers before the big holiday season. we have our good friend patrick. jen, i want to start with you. one of the key things, not just the free shipping initiative by the big retailers, but a big thing is the fiscal cliff discussion. you're telling me if there's a deal in place for the cliff, that is good news for the retailers. >> i think upper and retailers are worried their customer will decide not to spend because they are facing higher tax rates and the lower and retailers are concerned people may start to figure out their social security impact on their tax check will go up in two weeks and if it is i will have less to spend next year. your tax bill goes up by $300 that don't do something about the social security, that is a

big deal. both sides of the fiscal cliff, the high-end, the low end both big problems. it might not be great for the long-term economy but would be good for the short term retail economy. cheryl: is almost 40% of their annual revenues in this part of the shopping season. wal-mart, the free shipping is happening, it is most retailers, but wal-mart is participating as well a minimum of $45 or something, is that a good thing for wal-mart, patrick? >> yes and no. i think it speaks to the urgency that is out there across retail to drive some traffic into the stars..3 black friday was pretty good, but we have seen a lull in spending since then. there are two more days of christmas shopping between

thanksgiving ann christmas this year versus last year so i think there is more procrastination out there. more deals like this and more promotions than last year. cheryl: about a name like target? i know target is one of your top picks right now. you think target is actually going to win in this face-to-face battle with wal-mart. >> it has been a top pick. i was disappointed with the numbers in november, target actually had negative numbers in november, down about 1%, but i think you will see a pickup, and improvement in december, and my target is not so much about the holidays as it is i think the holiday outlook overall is still pretty subdued. i'm looking for maybe one to 2% same-store sales growth. target has a number of catalysts including the canadian store launch which will begin in

canada. dennis: do you agree or disagree of the assessment of the company overall? >> don't like the fact they're getting all the stars from the red card program. hitting gross margin, that is where the sales are coming from. i don't like the fact it puts more head-to-head against wal-mart. i personally think being head-to-head against wal-mart is bad. those two programs drive most of the sales volume. longer term i think that works against them. in the shorter term target is better off after the fiscal cliff then perhaps wal-mart or a high-end guy because guys in the middle who aren't affected by social security tax so much by the high-end tax on people like me and you are building better in the middle. right now for christmas. cheryl: i think you both agree this next week will be crucial.

a snapshot of how the big names are doing. thank you. i want to thank you both for being here. tomorrow we will take a look at our tech sector, and "stocking up" will continue to look at the technology sector, one of dennis' favorite topics. dennis: oh, yes. elsewhere, more delays. the more we could all pay. the white house and capitol hill could delay the irs mailing your tax refund on time. that may send us into recession, some worry. cheryl: and tripling in california. dennis: first, look at the s&p winners.

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cheryl: we are getting some breaking news into fox business right now. reuters is reporting jpmorgan securities and bear stearns are being sued over mortgage-backed securities by the national credit association. this is over alleged misconduct and $3.6 billion in mortgage securities to credit union collapse on losses from those securities. we will continue to follow that story for you. the stock is higher at this point. dennis: stocks now as did every 15 minutes, nicole petallides on the new york stock exchange. nicole: all eyes on washington now discuss the fiscal cliff trying to come to some sort of agreement to make this happen for u.s. taxpayers, americans across the country who are

eagerly awaiting a bipartisan decision of some sort end justifies the meeting has brought some optimism to wall street and as result we are seeing the dow up 91 points. focusing on bank of america the top performer on the dow jones industrials. some of the tech stocks are doing well, home depot representing housing. the broad-based rally underway, cheryl and dennis. back to you. cheryl: thank you very much. the breaking news we have been covering for you. president obama and house speaker john boehner meeting at the white house 45 minutes. dennis: coming after speaker boehner said he would be willing to talk about a higher tax rate on earning over a million dollars per year as long as he gets an equal amount in spending cuts. rich edson with the latest details. >> the return to capital after

the discussions at the white house the speaker meets with republican leadership this afternoon and with the rest of the republican conference in the house tomorrow morning. a proposed framework of a trillion dollars in spending cuts, cutting dollars in tax revenues including higher tax rates on more than a million dollars and curbs on deductions congress could work out next year. democrats and republicans are discussing continuing phasing out the payroll tax cut, extended unemployment insurance and raising the debt ceiling. that last point would run into significant resistance among republicans. changes to entitlements, medicare, medicaid, social security must be included to get any deal through congress, so there is progress, there is significant obstacles remain. back to you. dennis: thank you, rich. cheryl: congress is being warned the longer it takes for a

dissolution, the more we are paying next year. dennis: more now on the bottom line. >> that is right, the irs is telling fox business that every day there is in action on expiring tax breaks, greater sense of urgency that the irs and the irs oversight board. telling fox business it continues to communicate about the urgency of the situation to congress and has already sent high-level warnings to the senate finance and house means committee about the risk to taxpayers due to the fiscal cliff and the inaction on certain tax rates that are expiring by the end of the year. here's what they're telling congress, more than 60 million, half of all u.s. taxpayers would have to wait until late march or later to file the tax returns and receive a refund. fair warning 28 million taxpayers, many middle-class families will face a very large and unexpected tax liability due to the expiration of the

alternative minimum tax patch that congress has disagreed every year. they're saying they're holding off on reprogramming computers waiting for congress to make a move to end the fiscal cliff negotiations on these expiring tax rates and deductions that are fired for things like certain tuition costs and for teacher expenses. talking $213 billion in refund checks may not go out in the first quarter, average checks about $2800 with the payroll tax cuts expiring and on top of that economist could fear a recession could kick in in the first quarter. so whether they chip in and do this sooner rather than later remains to be seen. we will be getting back to it with breaking news. dennis: thank you very much, liz macdonald. we have a fiscal cliff survivals

set for you. joining us now with how to prepare is the chief tax officer. i am reading through the nose and one of the biggest pieces of advice you have got is filing a tax return as soon as possible. how can i do that when someone just changing? >> many people think as soon as i file, have to pay, but the reality is the earlier you file, you get a refund like 75% of americans do, $2800, you get that money. we still don't have to pay until april 15 so filing early has no downside. the problem of id theft and crime, those are early-season tax crimes were people still your name and social security number and profile. if you file early, you effectively lock them out. dennis: in the media coverage of this, also talking about is a tax rate increase on the rich

but you say far more than just the rich are affected by this. >> there is a preponderance of focus on the impact of the rich and there is the increasing tax rates they're talking about. the impact of the fiscal cliff is a 2012 issue for taxpayers high, medium and low income. the expiration of a dozen benefits which are already gone, institution of the ta tax effecs much as 60 million people historically have not have paid, and the increase in withholding starting in 2013 makes for the perfect storm. smaller refund, later refund and increased payroll of withholdings with lower paycheck to start with. it is a 2012 issue as you file your tax returns for all social economic demographics. i would tell you it is probably more impactful to the low and medium income people. dennis: find a way to bring in more money, democrats say we're going to raise rates to show that we won.

it turns out if we went over the cliff, if the changes go into force the end of captain deductions quite a bit on upper income anyway. >> that is already a foregone conclusion. lower income people again proportionally are probably expecting a reduction in credits, reduction in income credit, child tax credit, increased tax withholding. dennis: kind of wonder what the democrats didn't just say thank you, we will take them anyway. zooming up more specifically, what more can i do besides hiring an advisor like yourself? >> i always recommend having somebody who can help you. this year probably makes more sense than ever. whether it is professional tax repair or a lot of information on what to do. instead of filing early, at least engage early, start early understanding with the invitations are seeking jump on

it as soon as you're able to file and we will have this all ironed out. dennis: so hard you can start early, it'll be even harder to start early on taxes, which has been a horrible, horrible thing. we appreciate you being here, and good luck to everybody out there. have a good day, everybody. congress working it up. cheryl: and nike getting its way with morgan state legislature. dennis: and let's take a look at the 10-year treasury today.

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>> i am tracy byrnes with your fox business rates. stocks heading higher on optimism over fiscal cliff negotiations. president obama and speaker boehner wrapped up a meeting. shares are jumping on news of a potential buyout. offering to buy the software company for $2.3 billion. ellie's management and board expect a stake in compuware. according to the report on gender equality for economic cooperation and development, lack of childcare leading to a career interruption from others. and also noting childcare costs can account for more than half of the second salary in the family. that is the latest from the fox business network giving you the power to prosper. my likes to invest in the market. she also likes to ride her bike.

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cheryl: it is time for your "west coast minute." a story we have been following for you. the corporate tax structure will remain the same. they will hire and expand in that statement only as lawmakers put in writing they wouldn't change or raise corporate taxes. california smokeless tobacco sales have tripled over the last 10 years. according to the state department of health, but health advocates are not celebrating because the sales jump was largely due to high school students increasingly using chewing tobacco and snuff. and it looks like there is a great shortage in california. apple valley getting ready to plant. wineries have been delaying replacement old vines due to the recession but with demand for wind up, many nurseries say they

don't even have the vine roots available to plants. that is your "west coast minute." of course it is the cabernet plants. dennis: other winegrowers and buy some vine roots and ship it in. public excuse to raise rates. cheryl: remember back when the california cabernet beat the french cabernet. like in the late '70s. how dare americans beat the french. dennis: all right, boeing is back in iraq. landing in baghdad over the weekend, the first time in 30 years that has happened. part of a 4 the 40 plus jet ordn that country. improving the outdated aviation industry. shares were up a little bit. cheryl: do you want to go to baghdad, though? what will happen with that country.

a lot of companies are going to try and get things going, but still security risks happening in iraq. dennis: that is not good for business. cheryl: speaking of business, every 15 minutes we're in the business of stocks now, and nicole's watching some of them. nicole: i was going to volunteer for the wine tasting, send me to europe, i will do that. let's take a look at the movers, cheryl and dennis. we have followed apple so closely today because we are watching whether or not it would break below the $500 mark but it is a volatile stock. citigroup still likes apple but they reduc reduced the price tat today. the iphone 5 had record sales this weekend over in china. up 1%. googlgoogle up about 2% today. when we continue to watch after they got an upgrade. and jetblue, pulled up jetblue even though they raised several names in the airline sector

including lcc, delta. united continental continental,e all fine. jetblue they raised to a hold, yet the one that is moving the most. up three and a quarter percent. dennis: records december opening for "the hobbit." which means the box office ahead. cheryl: jeff flock takes a look at how the fiscal cliff is threatening one business. >> the businesses that fix your cars, bake your bread, do all the other stuff in life. is fixing the fiscal cliff easier than fixing an automotive transmission? that and more when we come back. stay tuned. i always wait until the last minute.

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dennis: time warner stock pumping up today. one reason could be the pointy eared superstar, "the hobbit." setting an all-time high for a film opening in december. time warner, this geek fest opens to almost as much money as the four films took in combined. it has done even better in

china, $84 million in china alone versus 70 million in the u.s. so far. lastly there is this, watch out, espn. fox sports may be coming after you. espn worth more than $40 billion. now the "wall street journal" is reporting fox is looking at setting up a new sports channel next year rebranding a car racing channel right now known as speed. the highest priced channel of all at $5 per home per month paid by cable systems, speed now charges $0.22 per month, lots of room for upside. cheryl: the niche sports channels are really taking off. i know fox has always had fox local, perhaps now going even further. dennis: nobody has even come close to espn.

fox making big bets on football, baseball, nascar. 39% stake in the yankees network yes. coming after you, espn. cheryl: with two eeks left and no deal in sight, small-business owners across the country are planning ahead of the cliff. dennis: an auto repair shop in illinois. just. >> mr. transmission. these are small businesses, they don't make a lot of money. i want to get a handle as we look at a transmission being replaced. president and ceo of the family shoe franchise. deal with the small-business owners. we got reports toda a report tot speaker john boehner is willing to increase abou above a million dollars instead of $250,000. you like that. >> don't say i like it, but it is better. that means they're listening to small business, low and small

business to come to the table because many are not making over a million dollars. but 250, that is something possibly we could make. >> what is your biggest fear? >> don't get a deal, and then get a bad deal, those are the two fears they would have and we would have to make sure that we are saving and taking less money in technology and marketing. jeff: you've already done the math if you don't get a deal, a huge hit for you, what is the impact? >> this it would be 9% increase in taxes. small businesses are llc, they're doing a pass-through to income. maybe not as much as cash.

it should not be put in their packet or put in a government pocket. dennis: small business by the way 60% of the new jobs created. perhaps the transmission makes the crank case. dennis: jeff flock, thank you very much. cheryl: the senate is right to debate a spending bill. look at the $60 billion bill raising eyebrows for things like $4 million in repair work at the kennedy space center. 150 million for fisheries in alaska, 40 million in repair work at eight military businesses. over 2 million for customs and border protection and 125 million for colorado summer wildfire repairs. directly to ignore these.

just shows the government means well, but it is utterly inefficient spending money. we're overspending by $1 trillion. the government will never stop spending. cheryl: it is all about the pet projects lawmakers will never earn. dennis: you hear that music whethe?we are going to give youe latest. cheryl: the latest push to iron out a deal to avert the fiscal cliff. what does house majority leader dick armey talking about the conversation left behind. melissa and lormelissa and lorit interview coming up. [ woman ] ring. ring. progresso.

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